
Our home is on a rural parcel of slightly less than 5 acres which has lots of oak trees and other than my garden area is not fenced. We enjoy seeing the local wildlife pass through. For some, it is a regular pattern that depending on time of year is as dependable as a bus schedule. Others are random surprises that do not happen often.
Deer are common visitors. The moms and their babies have been regular summer visitors. Sometimes two or three families at a time. Antlers are a rarity and it seemed that when a male showed up a few times in past years, they were not particularly welcomed by the mothers with their offspring.
So this evening, having three young boys show up and decide to browse close to our house was unusual in more than one way. The largest of the three appeared to make some aggressive moves on one of the others at one point. But they quickly got back to the business of mowing the weeds on the back hill.
If I get time, tomorrow I will do a bit of summer pruning and leave the boys some fresh fruit tree branches to strip. Typically they come around a few times and then wander off to somewhere else for a while. Now that most of the annual vegetation has turned brown, fresh greens outside the fence may be the equivalent of the all you can eat buffet.